IRRIGATING GRASS LANDS. 383 



closely, for a few years. The first objection that many 

 farmers raise to this method is, that the cost of fences 

 is great, and that it is a branch of husbandry with which 

 they are not acquainted. This may be so, but the testi- 

 mony of those who have tried this method is uniformly 

 in its favor. I have had some experience and consid- 

 erable observation in sheep husbandry, and my atten- 

 tion has been called to the changes wrought by sheep 

 upon rough pastures covered with bushes and briers 

 in part ; and it appears to be a practicable method of 

 improvement, while the raising of sheep and lambs for 

 the shambles is destined to be a profitable branch of 

 farming. 



Another practicable means of improving our grass 

 lands is by irrigation. Every casual observer, even, is 

 familiar with the fact that lands are fertilized by irriga- 

 tion, and especially that the grass by running streams 

 shoots earlier in spring, and makes a far more thrifty 

 growth, than lands on the same kind of soil which have 

 not the advantage of running water. The introduction 

 of the hydraulic ram among the implements of the farm 

 offers facilities for irrigating grass lands not hitherto 

 known; and it will unquestionably become, hereafter, an 

 important means of guarding against our severe summer 

 droughts, and of increasing vastly the production of 

 our lands. 



It would be impossible to state with any detail the 

 different methods adopted to effect the objects of irri- 

 gation, since it would require a distinct treatise upon 

 the subject ; and it is sufficient to allude to the simplest 

 mode employed with success, and the advantages 

 offered. 



Superficial irrigation, which is, perhaps, the oldest 

 and the most common form in which water is artifi- 

 cially applied for the purpose of increasing the growth 



